


More Than One Way to Defeat a Meta-Human

by rasberry_not_raspberry



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Dick Grayson is Robin, Gen, Hair Pets, Hurt/Comfort, Kon-El | Conner Kent is Superboy, Project Cadmus, Wally West is Kid Flash, Young Justice Season 1, lol it's such a good trope, which is a stolen tag from all the hurt/comfort bat fics recently
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 21:55:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30146172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rasberry_not_raspberry/pseuds/rasberry_not_raspberry
Summary: Cadmus Tech ordered Superboy to take down the intruders, but they forgot that Superboy is genetically mostly-Clark and Batman exploits that fact with his knowledge of Superman's weaknesses (feat. hair pets).A "What-If" scenario from the Superboy rescue scene in Young Justice
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Kon-El | Conner Kent & Bruce Wayne
Comments: 3
Kudos: 109





	More Than One Way to Defeat a Meta-Human

**Author's Note:**

> I've just decided that the only way I'm going to get better at writing is by actually writing, so you might see some more one-shots from me in the future lol.
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!

“ _K-R_ ,” Dick read, feeling a foreboding feeling grow in his stomach. “You guys, this is the elemental symbol for Kryptonite.”

“Um, like Superman-Kryptonite?” Wally asked. “Nevermind, don’t answer that.”

They stared at the fully-grown teenage clone in the glass tank, and Dick fought the desperate urge to unlock the clone. This wasn’t his Uncle Clark, no matter how much he looked like him- this was something made by the bad guys. He had no way of knowing how the clone was going to react to them. Still, the thought of a kid who was the same age as they were in a cage-!

“This case is too big for us,” Kaldur said grimly. “We need to bring in the Justice League.”

Dick grinned and held up his Bat comm. “Already on it. Bats should be here as soon as he can.”

“Should we go ahead and set him free?” Wally asked. “It’s not right that he’s locked up in there. They’re controlling him telepathically and he’s just a kid, like us!”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Dick said, and scanned through the computer’s monitors quickly. “There, that should disable the telepathic communicators so they can’t give him orders- and there-!”

The glass walls of the tank disappeared with a hiss and cloud of steam, and Superboy stumbled out of the cage and nearly fell to his knees. Wally and Dick ran forward to catch him before he could hit the floor.

“Dude, what did they feed this guy?” Wally gasped. “He’s gotta weigh almost as much as Superman and he’s only sixteen weeks old!”

The speakers in the corners of the room crackled to life, and Dick cursed. He thought he’d disabled those. Stupid mistake. “ _Project Cadmus, testing, testing, 1-2-3_ ,” a disembodied voice echoed throughout the chamber, and Superboy yanked himself out of their grip, standing to attention.

“Reporting for duty,” the clone’s voice was emotionless. Not like his Uncle Clark at all. 

_Oh, shoot, this is bad_ , Dick had a second to think before the voice spoke again.

“Project Superboy, incapacitate the intruders, but don’t inflict mortal harm.” The speaker made a loud popping sound as the person ended the call.

“Guys, move-!” Kaldur roared, but Wally had already grabbed Dick and flung them both across the room, right before Superboy’s fists cracked the floor where Dick’s head had been.

“What the _fuck_ -what the _fuck_ -” Wally chanted.

“He’s not being mind controlled!” Dick yelled as Kaldur ran forward, water-sword already extended to attack. He slammed Superboy across the room, but the clone was back on his feet in a second and slamming back into Kaldur before he could duck. 

“Well, he’s still following orders-!” Wally screamed back, only slightly faster than Superboy as he dodged his fists. “I think we accidentally freed Evil Superman!”

Dick grappled to the nearest wall, and flipped off, slamming Superboy into the ground, but the super-powered clone just grabbed his cape and flipped him over his shoulder knocking the air out of his lungs. 

They weren’t causing any damage, and Superboy definitely had the power to take them out if they kept up this game for much longer. Robin tried to roll away from the clone, but Superboy stepped on his chest, exerting enough pressure to squeeze the breath out of Robin’s lungs and make his ribs pop menacingly. 

The chamber door exploded inwards with a deafening bang, and the kids were all thrown backwards into the walls.

“Robin!” Batman roared over the noise.

“Evil Superman clone!” Robin said, gasping for air from the ground, and hoped that his bruised ribs were enough to get him out of trouble with Bruce and Alfred. “I hope you have Kryptonite!”

“Who are you?” Superboy asked warily, shoulders tense and eyes distrustful as he assessed Batman. “Are you an enemy of Cadmus?”

The speakers crackled to life again. “Project Superboy, attack the new intruder.”

Batman slammed a glass vial into the ground and a mushroom cloud of neon green smoke erupted into the air, just as Superboy came leaping at him. The clone sank to the ground, choking on the powdered Kryptonite that had exploded all over the room. He sank to his knees, hands clutching his throat.

“You came just in time, Mr. Batman-!” Wally said, zooming over. He was careful to give the choking clone a wide berth. “You didn’t kill him, did you?”

“Don’t worry,” Batman said in a growling tone. “I’m well aware of the limits of meta-humans. Especially this one.”

“He’s a clone of- of Superman, Batman,” Robin said. “He’s only sixteen weeks old. Cadmus created him.”

Batman approached the downed clone, and knelt by his side. Superboy snarled at him, but his voice was weak and it sent him into another spasm of coughs. His skin was pallid and sweating from the exposure to Kryptonite, and he could barely lift his hands. 

“We’re not here to hurt you, Superboy,” Batman said. “We’re here to help.”

“He’s not being mind-controlled,” Robin said. “He just obeys Cadmus’ orders. We didn’t know how to get him to listen to us about getting out of here.”

“Hmm,” Batman said, and he didn’t sound concerned. “Well, he might be some lab concoction that a bunch of genetic engineers put together, but deep down he has the same brain as Superman.”

“What does that mean-?” Wally started to ask, but Batman had already pulled the clone into his lap, positioning the boy’s head in his lap. 

“- _strange procedure_ -” Robin heard Kaldur murmur behind him, but he’d seen Bruce do this enough with Clark that he wasn’t concerned. 

Bruce slowly brushed his hand through Superboy’s hair, tracing lines down the boy’s sweaty scalp. Superboy was still gasping for air and he looked like he was in pain, but his body relaxed the longer Bruce slowly pet his hair. 

“You can’t-” Superboy began coughing again. “-buy my loyalty- with . . . with- your- _hypnotism_!”

“I’m not hypnotizing you, Superboy. We’re not your enemies,” Bruce said quietly, sounding a lot more like Bruce than he did like Batman. “We can get you out of here. Set you free. Give you a real life and a real family outside of these labs. You can meet Superman.”

“Really?” Superboy croaked and there was something unreadable and intense in his eyes. He wanted that, Robin could tell. He really wanted to meet Superman. “Would he- do you think he would want to meet me?”

Bruce hesitated, fingers stilling on Superboy’s head until the boy whimpered and Bruce resumed finger-combing the boy’s hair. “Of course he would,” Bruce said finally. “And the other members of the Justice League would all help you assimilate into human culture.”

Superboy nodded, but he looked like he didn’t care about any member of the Justice League except for Superman. Robin hated to interrupt this bonding moment, but he felt the need to remind Batman that they were sitting ducks in some psychopath’s evil labs.

Batman spoke before Robin got the words out of his mouth: “The rest of the League are taking care of it, Robin. I called them when I realized where your tracker was. Which was an incredibly stupid move on your part, I can’t believe-!”

Robin tuned out the incoming lecture, and sure enough, he could hear the faint sounds of fighting and chaos above them. Wally grinned and Kaldur’s shoulders relaxed infinitesimally. 

Half a minute later, the rest of the Justice League had flown into the destroyed containment room, and Robin saw Superman’s face freeze when he saw the clone in Bruce’s lap.

“Batman-?” Superman said, and his voice sounded equal parts terrified and angry. “What the hell is this?”

Batman’s jaw set and Dick could see the second that his guardian turned from Batman, protector of the innocent, to Bruce, protector of children. “Superman. This is Superboy. He’s a clone formed from your DNA, and he’s a _child_.”

Robin could hear Superman grinding his teeth from across the room, so he helpfully kept the part about Lex Luthor’s DNA to himself.

Wonder Woman stepped up next to Superman and put her hand on his shoulder, leaning in to whisper something in his ear. Slowly, Superman’s face shifted from furious to neutral.

“Is he still under Cadmus’ control?” Superman asked, and Superboy’s face paled at his cold tone, trying to sit up off of Batman’s legs. 

“No, I’m-” Superboy started coughing again. Batman pressed him back down into his lap and made a shushing sound. 

“He’s willing to change his loyalties to Cadmus as long as we can provide him with a safe home to grow up in,” Batman said. “Isn’t that right, Superboy?”

Superboy nodded quickly. He opened his mouth, shut it again, and then finally said, “It’s an honor to meet you, Superman.” Superboy’s face flushed bright red and he turned away quickly. Batman gently brushed his hand back through the boy’s hair and Superboy made a shuddering motion and closed his eyes. 

Superman’s face softened and Robin knew that his Uncle Clark wouldn’t hold the boy’s conception against the clone. Clark hated nothing more than for his bodily autonomy to be taken away from him, but he would understand that the boy wasn’t part of the evil scheme willingly.

“Perhaps the boy can stay at the Watchtower?” J’onn said, eyes fixed on the clone. 

“He needs to stay in a real home,” Batman snarled. “I’ll take him home with me.”

“You’re not equipped to house a metahuman-!” J’onn said skeptically. “The Watchtower would be better to keep an eye on him.”

“I think I can handle him,” Batman said dryly, and they all looked at the boy curled up in Batman’s lap, a stray hand clutching Batman’s cape tightly. 

Robin grinned. Life at the Manor was about to get a lot more interesting. 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't like the canon narrative that Clark is a complete jerk about Superboy, and so I'll just ignore it lol
> 
> Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
